ROADTRIP – Some Shorts Are Just Destined To Be Great

It’s pretty easy to make out from all the hand drawn paintings the movie is build on that why Xaver Xylophon’s unorthodox animation was popular in the award seasons. Screening at Clermont-Ferrand, SXSW and Annecy (where it won the ‘Junior Jury Award’) in 2015, Roadtrip is a beautiful written short film about Julian, who is suffering a form of insomnia. To gain some introspect, he decides to dust up his old motorbike and set on a road trip, but somehow he can’t manage to leave.

Roadtrip, for some people, is a slow-paced experience but that also tells so much about the way Xaver wants to tell this story and his approach towards film making in general. The short depicts the desolateness of Berlin with hand-drawn alluring atmospheres and drags you in with his riveting characters that are extremely easy to relate to.

In the end you really feel as if you have invested in his characters and left a little disapointed you don’t get to spend some more time in their universe.